Revenue share numbers may help keep small firms afloat

Date: 20/12/2011

Small businesses may find they need to prioritise their spending more than ever in the forthcoming months, as the ongoing economic crisis continues to force firms across the UK to close.

In order to cut costs and increase profit margins, companies could look into several options to see how they can successfully increase their earnings and reduce their outgoings.

Investing in revenue share numbers could be one way in which businesses boost their annual income, as they will earn up to 1.5p per minute from each call received.

Commsready offers several 0844 numbers that can help a firm to present a national and professional image, as well as providing a memorable number for customers.

In addition, organisations will be able to use a free online call statistics tool to monitor when their busy periods are and plan better call handling and management.

This will help to improve customer service, which was noted by chairman of the National Outsourcing Association Martyn Hart as one of the main things small businesses should be focusing on.

He claimed it is more important than ever in the current competitive marketplace to look at ways to reduce "back office activities" and increase client contentment.

Mr Hart suggested outsourcing jobs such as accounts, IT and human resources can remove distractions, as well as cutting costs.

"[It is] better to focus on things like customer satisfaction, outmanoeuvring the competition and securing new business," the expert stated.

It was claimed that outsourcing "frees up resources to be the best you can be", while dedicating time and energy to strategic leadership will help to improve a firm's prospects.

Elsewhere, managing director of Moodley's Limited Yudhistra Moodley explained how the success of a company all comes down to its ability to manage cash.

He described how this is something people learn with "time and experience", as there are "many variables" that can affect a business' profits.

Mr Moodley commented the key is to recognise where an organisation is failing and learn from it before altering the business model.

Another tool that may help increase profit margins is an online call management service, which allows firms to manage their inbound calls and divert them to different numbers.

This could be beneficial for small businesses that do not have a 24-hour call centre, but still need to deal with queries at any time of the day in order to keep their clients happy.

If the line appears busy or goes unanswered, individuals can be automatically re-routed rather than having to leave a voicemail message.

Commsready's revenue share numbers also come with a Disaster Recovery solution system, which can be easily accessed and managed through the internet at any time of day and from any location.

This feature may help small businesses to stay in contact with their clients should they experience a problem that makes their office inaccessible.

As a result, loss of business could be avoided and disruption kept to a minimum, with companies also able to take their 0844 number with them if they move premises.